Africa on Grid. Blockchain and crypto currency slowly getting embraced by African institutions# Zimbabwe AgrikBank patterns with Bitmari bitcoin wallet.

Zimbabwe is making great strides in innovative financial inclusion, the first of its kind in Africa. Zimbabwe's Agribank ( Agriculture Bank of Zimbabwe) has patterned with Bitmari, the world's leading Pan-African bitcoin wallet provider to foster financial inclusion and to help farmers have access to financial resources. This partnership is historical, it is the first of its kind where an African commercial bank agrees to work with a bitcoin company-

Bitmari was founded in 2015 and since been working with local farmers in zimbabwe to improve their livelihood. Inthe last quarter of 2016, the company launched a Women Farmers accelerator program called Kurima neBitmari (Farming with Bitmari), to help pay for materials and equipment for 100 women farmers. It is the first ever Bitcoin accelerator program for female farmers in Africa.

Since bitmari is bitcoin based and not regulated by any authority in zimbabwe, the company has fully applied for an international remittance license from the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe and once accepted it will set a good precedence for the future blockchain start ups in Africa.

Currently there is no central bank in Africa that has come up with any regulations pertaining to bitcoin and crypto currencies. Recently, the Central bank of Uganda made a press release calling Bitcoin and other crypto currencies unregulated and all participants acting outside the financial Institutions Act of 2004. Despite the presentations and seminars presented to the bank of Uganda regarding crypto currencies the institution has not resolved to set up guidelines for all crypto currency business.

I hope the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe embraces this new innovation and speeds up the regulation framing to enable continuous utilization of technology to give the unbanked Zimbabwean population a chance to participate in the global economy.